Salary Survey Extra is a series of dispatches that give added insight into the findings of our annual Salary Survey. These posts contain previously unpublished Salary Survey data.
Each year we use the Deep Focus prism to look separately at both the female and male Salary Survey participants. But it wasn't until 2020 that we hit on the idea of doing a one-size-fits-all Deep Focus. And now it's an annual tradition. For our last call, grand finale reader-take-all dip into the Deep Focus well, we’re considering the entire body of 2022 Salary Survey participants.
Here’s what the salary picture looks like for, well, everyone who responded to the 2023 Salary Survey:
All U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $107,880
Median Annual Salary: $102,840
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: 11 percent
Very Satisfied: 28.9 percent
Satisfied: 39.3 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 17.6 percent
Not At All Satisfied: 3.2 percent
All Non-U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $62,620
Median Annual Salary: $51,790
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: 5.2 percent
Very Satisfied: 14.3 percent
Satisfied: 36.9 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 32.4 percent
Not At All Satisfied: 11.2 percent
The largest single body of certified IT professionals to participate in the survey is made up of U.S. residents (58 percent of those surveyed), but we did hear from tech pros in 141 other countries: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo (Brazzaville), Costa Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, North Korea, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovenia, Somalia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vatican City, Venezuela, Vietnam, Western Sahara, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The IT industry has been largely male-dominated for as long as information technology has been with us, but there are more women entering the field now perhaps than ever before, and 19 percent of the certified IT pros who participated in the 2022 Salary Survey are female. That leaves 74.5 percent who are male, 2.4 percent who are transgender male, 1.2 percent who are transgender female, 0.6 percent who are variant/nonconforming, and 2.3 percent who chose not to identify their gender. For the most part, all IT professionals who participated in the survey are either in the thick of middle age or getting close to it, with 86.1 percent of those surveyed older than 24 but younger than 55, either between the ages of 25 and 35 (28.8 percent), between the ages of 35 and 44 (34.9 percent), or between the ages of 45 and 54 (22.4 percent). Just 4-ish percent of respondents are younger than 25 — 0.2 percent who are age 18 or younger and 3.6 percent who are between the ages of 19 and 24 — with everyone else either between the ages of 55 and 64 (8.8 percent) between the ages of 65 and 74 (1.2 percent), or 75 or older (0.1 percent).
Roughly 90 percent of certified IT pros who responded to the survey have an educational background that includes time spent at a college or university. The highest level of education completed by most is either a bachelor’s degree (40.1 percent of those surveyed), master’s degree (34.2 percent), associate’s degree (7.7 percent), professional degree (3 percent), or doctorate (4.8 percent). Most of the remaining survey respondents exited the realm of formal education after completing some level of post-high school technical training (5.4 percent), along with a handful who either checked out after graduating from high school (3.9 percent) or are currently in the process of furthering their education (0.7 percent). And if you’re in favor of no formal education at all, well, 0.2 percent of those surveyed entered the workforce armed with only their native wits.
An solid 81.1 percent of certified IT professionals who responded to the survey are employed full-time, with 8 percent holding part-time jobs and 6.3 percent out of work. That leaves 3.2 percent who are on sabbatical and 1.4 percent who are students. Among those who have full-time jobs, most have either a standard 40-hour work week (35.8 percent of respondents) or put in between 41 and 50 hours per week (33.2 percent). The outliers are the 9.1 percent of those surveyed who put in more than 50 hours per week, the 14.7 percent who work between 31 and 39 hours per week, the 5.3 percent who work between 20 and 30 hours per week, and the 1.9 percent who are employed full-time but also on the clock for fewer than 20 hours per week.
In the post-COVID era, an only somewhat surprising 51 percent of certified IT professionals are spending most of those hours in a traditional workplace, putting in either 10 or fewer hours per week from home (30.7 percent) or between 10 and 20 hours per week from home (20.3 percent). The rest have transitioned to an office that is almost certainly within bleary-eyed stumbling distance of their nice, comfy bed, working from home either between 21 and 30 hours per week (12.6 percent of respondents), between 31 and 39 hours per week (10 percent), 40 hours per week (12.1 percent), or more than 40 hours per week (14.3 percent).
In terms of workplace standing, the largest single group of certified IT pros who participated in the survey are employed at the senior specialist level (23.8 percent of respondents). The rest, in descending order, are either managers (19 percent of those surveyed), senior managers (18.5 percent), specialists (11.5 percent), rank-and-file employees (10.4 percent), directors (8.8 percent), or executives (8 percent).
A notable 32.6 percent of certified IT professionals who responded to the survey are relative IT newcomers, having worked in a role that directly utilizes one or more of their certified skills for between 3 and 5 years. The rest have been plying their certified skills for either between zero years (1 to 11 months) and 2 years (19 percent of respondents), between 6 and 8 years (16 percent), between 9 and 10 years (6.6 percent), or for more than a decade (25.8 percent).
Finally, here’s the view of our 2023 Salary Survey participants, in aggregate, on key questions from the survey about how certification impacts job performance:
At my current job I use skills learned or enhanced through certification:
Several times a day: 33.4 percent
Several times a week: 37.2 percent
Several times a month: 18.7 percent
Occasionally: 8.4 percent
Rarely: 2.3 percent
Since becoming certified, I feel there is greater demand for my skills.
Strongly agree: 34.4 percent
Agree: 42 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 17.2 percent
Disagree: 4.6 percent
Strongly Disagree: 1.8 percent
Becoming certified has increased my problem-solving skills.
Strongly agree: 29.2 percent
Agree: 42.6 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 19.4 percent
Disagree: 6.1 percent
Strongly Disagree: 2.7 percent
Becoming certified has increased my workplace productivity.
Strongly agree: 27.2 percent
Agree: 40.1 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 23.2 percent
Disagree: 6.5 percent
Strongly Disagree: 3 percent
PAST ALL SURVEY PARTICIPANTS DEEP FOCUS FEATURES
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